Volodymyr Zelensky admits difficult counter-offensive against Russian forces

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted Thursday evening August 3 that his counter-offensive was difficult but assured that his troops dominated the Russian forces. “The occupiers are trying with all their might to stop our guys. The fighting is very violent”he acknowledged in his daily message, nevertheless ensuring that “whatever the enemy does, it is the Ukrainian army that dominates”. The president spoke of fighting in the key areas of Lyman, Bakhmout and Avdiivka, in the east of the country, but also on the southern front.
• The German Defense Minister on Thursday reaffirmed his reluctance to deliver cruise missiles requested by kyiv to repel the Russian forces and thus follow the example of the United Kingdom and France. A decision on the Taurus, air-to-ground cruise missiles with a range of over 500 km, “is not a priority”said Boris Pistorius on the sidelines of a visit to a brigade of alpine hunters in Bavaria. “The Objections” German “are obvious”he continued.
• Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia reached a deal on Thursday to disconnect from the Russian-controlled power grid and plug into the EU system. The Prime Ministers of these Baltic NATO member countries have signed a declaration in which they undertake to complete this transition by February 2025.
• The European Union announced Thursday to toughen its sanctions against Belarus because of its support for Moscow. in its war in Ukraine, extending its blacklist and restricting exports, especially for technologies intended for drones. These new sanctions, endorsed unanimously by the Twenty-Seven, are intended to “guarantee that Russian sanctions cannot be circumvented via Belarus”targeting goods and technologies “highly sensitive”explained the European Commission.
• US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken accused Russia on Thursday, before the UN Security Council, of ” blackmail “ on the Black Sea grain agreementfrom which she withdrew in July, and” assault “ on the global food system. “Every member of this Council, every member of the United Nations must tell Moscow that
  It’s enough. It is enough to use (the grain agreement of) the Black Sea to blackmail. It is enough to treat the most vulnerable people on the planet like a bargaining chip. Enough of this unjustified and inadmissible war” against Ukraine, hammered the Secretary of State.
• Ukrainian forces “detected and destroyed nearly fifteen aerial targets” approaching kyiv, the head of the military administration of the capital said on Telegram on Thursday morning, Serhi Popko, who specifies that they were Shahed explosive drones. No casualties or damage were reported at first.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said 37 Iranian-made Shahed drones were used to attack Ukraine on Wednesday morning. In his overnight address, he said “only some of them” were destroyed, but there were no casualties.
• The Russian bombardments which targeted, on Wednesday, the Ukrainian port infrastructures on the Danube “damaged” almost 40,000 tonnes of cereals intended for export, announced the Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure, Olexandr Kubrakov. Paris has accused Moscow of running “deliberately” a risk to global food security.
• 10,749 Ukrainian civilians, including 499 children, have been killed since the start of the conflict, says the head of the War Crimes Department of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office, Yury BelousovFebruary 24, 2022. In addition, 15,599 people were injured in Ukraine, including 1,900 children.

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